CANVEY is set to lose its dedicated rapid response paramedic car.

Plans were announced to shake up the ambulance service in an attempt to get more ambulances on the road.

But it means there will be no paid for paramedics operation on the island and could mean it takes longer to get to emergencies.

The rapid response car was dedicated to Canvey after the island lost its ambulances and a campaign to save the resource has already been launched.

Organiser Kieran Smith, 37, from Canvey said: “I’m very worried there will be tragedies without the response vehicle.

There will be a gap in the coverage, leaving us all unprotected, vulnerable and exposed.

“In emergencies, every second is crucial, the probability of survival decreases each minute a patient is waiting.

“Increasing ambulances is no good unless they are tethered to Canvey.”

Canvey currently has one ambulance which deals with calls on and off the Island and a rapid response vehicle which is based in Canvey.

Resident Marion Brocklebank, 62, said: “I think this is a disgraceful idea, we rely on them.

“People are going to be in a terrible state if they have to wait for an ambulance to travel to us from hospitals on the mainland like Southend or Basildon. Not having an extra road into Canvey which we’ve been promised for years would really not help. People will be worse off or even die.

There will be a public meeting on November 16 to campaign against this decision, at 353 Long Road at 7.30pm.

During the past six months the vehicle has been unmanned 27 per cent of the time.

Mick Allwood, from the Canvey First Responders, will be attending the event as a resident. He said: “This is a vital service that needs to be retained and tethered to Canvey.”

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: “The national ambulance response programme is about making sure patients get the right response first time for their clinical needs, rather than simply hitting a mandatory target. The new standards recognise that in the past rapid response vehicles were used to get to a patient quickly, often to meet a target, even though the patient still needed an ambulance. Under the new system, the aim is to make sure patients get the right clinical response, which is more often an ambulance.”